A feminine form in a proverb does not prove that every later addressee is a woman. Nor must the inherited tense of the saying describe the precise chronology of every later event. Such linguistic forms preserve the wording of the original occasion.
Original expression: “bi-l-ṣayfi ḍayyaʿti al-laban,” retaining its familiar address and grammar.
Later application: warning a person about the consequences of having missed an opportunity.
Keep two tasks distinct: analyze the Arabic forms grammatically, and then explain the proverb’s representative significance for its present audience and occasion.